'Thong burglar' gets 20 years

Burglary, rape try bring 20 years
Ohio man left video camera behind
BY JIM HANNAH
Kentucky Enquirer
July 25, 2007

An Ohio man was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison for breaking into a sleeping woman's apartment clad in only a brightly colored thong.
Rodney McMillen, 36, of Norwood had already pleaded guilty but mentally ill to burglary and attempted rape charges from the September attack in Fort Mitchell.

Kenton Circuit Judge Steven Jaeger sentenced McMillen to the maximum 20 years for burglary and 10 for attempted rape, which will be served concurrently. He will also have to register as a sex offender when released.

Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders said the case shows a flaw in the parole eligibility law, because McMillen would have to serve 85 percent of the attempted rape sentence, a violent crime, but only 20 percent of the burglary conviction before he could be paroled.

That means he will be eligible for parole in 8½ years.

McMillen apologized during the sentencing, blaming his behavior on a drug addiction.

He broke into a Fort Mitchell apartment armed with a knife and carrying a video camera, according to investigators.

He jumped on a sleeping woman's bed and attempted to rape her. The woman, who did not know her attacker, fought him off. McMillen fled into nearby woods, but left behind the video camera recording the attack.

When investigators played back the video, they discovered it also contained home movies of McMillen's relatives.
As Fort Mitchell investigators closed in, McMillen went to Norwood police and claimed someone trying to break into his home had just attacked him.
Authorities contend it was an attempt to explain away the injuries he received from the woman who successfully fought him off.
Norwood detectives photographed the injuries, which included a tattoo that detectives matched to the man in the Fort Mitchell video.

Investigators also matched McMillen's voice to the tape, and matched his DNA to cigarette butts left at the woman's apartment.